William Cordova’s (born Lima, Peru; lives Miami, Florida) artwork takes the form of various media and ranges from the abstract to the representational, yet it is always charged with symbolism. Often constructed from familiar “non-art” materials (paint chips, old maps, the sounds of ants, concrete, two-by-fours) that bare traces of previous use, cordova’s drawings, collages, sculptures, audio tracks, videos, and installations interweave places, cultures, and periods frequently perceived as distinct.

Cordova studied painting (BFA School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1996; MFA Yale University, 2004) yet his practice is informed as much by research, writers (bell hooks, Jorge Luis Borges, Zora Neale Hurston, Nicomedes Santa Cruz), and filmmakers (Eulogio Nishiyama, Ousmane Sembène), as it is by artists (Martín Chambi, Coco Fusco, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Adrian Piper, Nancy Spero, Robert Thiele, Purvis Young). cordova’s artwork, like that of many of his cultural touchstones, tests pre-conceived expectations—of beauty, of others—thus conjuring alternative perspectives.

For “ankaylli: spatial and ideological terrain” cordova has created a constellation—a spiral wooden structure “orbited” by sculptures, collages, Polaroids, a video, objects around town, a free newspaper, a website—in which Pre-Columbian traditions, Modern Art and Architecture, and Spiritualism overlap, as indeed they do in Marfa, a town known equally for Native American history, Minimalism, and star-gazing. The exhibition includes poetic and direct references to all three: stepped pyramids patterns, geometric concrete forms, and symbols of the cosmos.

In particular, everything comes together in constelación / constellation (2017), comprising small concrete spheres—made locally by participants in an all-ages workshop—placed at nine points for exchange amongst people in historically divided Marfa: a health clinic, the radio station, schools, the cemetery, a barbershop. The points, when viewed from above as they can be at www.constellationmarfa.com, form what some call the Big Dipper, while others call the same stars a Drinking Gourd or parts of a snake. Included in cordova’s constellation is also the North Star, which has been used throughout time to navigate worldwide, and was used by enslaved Blacks in America searching for freedom. “ankaylli: spatial and ideological terrain”—ankaylli is the Quechuan word for transformer, revolution, or echo—suggests that ideas transmit, and connect rather than divide us across time, space, and culture.

 —Kate Green, Curator and Guest Director
    Taken from the Marfa Contemporary website

A catalogue documenting this project, with essays by Kate Green and Franklin Sirmans, Director of Pérez Art Museum Miami will be published in April 2018.

Visit www.constellationmarfa.com for an interactive map of the nine points included in constelación / constellation (2017). 

Left: untitled (exploration of space and time), 2012-13. Right: untitled (whipala), 2014-2017. “ankaylli: spatial and ideological terrain,” William Cordova, Marfa Contemporary, 2017.

“ankaylli: spatial and ideological terrain,” William Cordova, Marfa Contemporary, 2017.

William Cordova, axiom (or the transphysics we knew about. after Rufus Nims 4 M.Essex); 2014-17, Gold leaf, graphite, collage on reclaimed architecture printing paper, 50.5 x 105 inches.

“ankaylli: spatial and ideological terrain,” William Cordova, Marfa Contemporary, 2017. 

William Cordova, untitled (francisco congo), 2016, Peruvian cocoa on arches paper, 24 x 30 inches.

and the moon be still as bright (la cronica marciana), 2017. “ankaylli: spatial and ideological terrain,” William Cordova, Marfa Contemporary, 2017.

Marfa Contemporary is dedicated to encouraging artistic expression in all its forms through education and exhibitions.

Vision:
We endeavor to instill in the public a lifetime appreciation of the arts and enthusiasm for creative practice.
Exhibitions at Marfa Contemporary are free to the public year-round and feature recent works by regional, national and international artists. Classes for children and adults are also offered throughout the year free of charge.

100 East San Antonio St.
Marfa, TX 79843
marfacontemporary.org

All photography by Alex Marks. Courtesy of Marfa Contemporary

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